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Blen

@blenblanchard.bsky.social
192 followers 141 following 721 posts
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Reposted by Blen
Paris Marx @parismarx.com · 02/10/2026
Check out @ericwickham.ca’s new podcast about the data centre fight in Mississauga! I’m one of the voices interviewed for it. Can’t wait to listen!
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Paris Marx @parismarx.com · 01/10/2026
Really happy to have @ketanjoshi.co back on the podcast to learn more about all the emissions being generated by the gas plants to power the tech industry’s data centers. There’s no chance of truly addressing climate change if the industry gets its way!
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Jordan Roberts @corruptario.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
When organized crime buys up ServiceOntario franchises, you get this. We've said it a million times. Because they have access to all ServiceOntario info - particularly driver's license and registration - they can steal cars to order. Because they know where the cars they want are likely parked.
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Rebecca Solnit @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Time for this classic again.
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RogerEbert.com @ebertvoices.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
“[It] is another confirmation that genocide is happening, but the film’s stamp of validation in an ideal world shouldn’t be needed." @812filmreviews.com reviews NAZA:
rogerebert.com
NAZA review: Harrowing Israeli film is an essential historical document
“NAZA” stands as an ontological survey of state-sponsored violence.
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The Canadian Border 🇨🇦 @canadianborder.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Canadian automakers have developed an EV car that can travel 500+ km on a single charge, shows snow covered lane lines on your windshield on snowy highways, and heatmaps animals on the side of the road so you have a warning about deer and moose at night. This is for us. BRING IT TO MARKET!! 😍❤️🍁
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Alex Cosh @alex.readthemaple.com · 29/09/2026
NEW: Pro-Israel voices have suggested that anti-Zionism, the pro-Palestine movement and “anti-Israel” policies were responsible for causing the Belleville attack. There is no public evidence to support any of these claims. www.readthemaple.com/how-pro-isra...
readthemaple.com
How Pro-Israel Voices Warped The Belleville Shooting Narrative
Pro-Israel voices suggested that anti-Zionism, the pro-Palestine movement and “anti-Israel” policies were responsible for causing the attack.
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Luke LeBrun @lukelebrun.ca · 29/09/2026
[The judge] “said in court on Tuesday that the pair ‘selflessly’ put themselves to the side for the cause. ‘Mr. Kalicum and Ms. Nyx have borne the burden of bringing a successful constitutional challenge, thereby doing the public interest a service at considerable personal cost’
cbc.ca
Judge tosses drug trafficking convictions for B.C. compassion club founders after constitutional challenge | CBC News
A British Columbia Supreme Court judge has ruled in favour of two harm-reduction activists convicted of drug trafficking who argued they were doing it to reduce the harms caused by toxic drugs.
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Shawn Micallef @shawnmicallef.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
And Doctors for Bikelanes just held a big rally this morning on University Ave
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Ed Newton-Rex @ednewtonrex.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
The UK's AI minister just made a big and important admission on AI & copyright, which creatives around the country will celebrate: "It is currently illegal to develop a frontier large language model based on the transformer architecture given the copyright position that we have in this country”.
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Toronto Archives @torontoarchives.cityof.toronto.ca · 29/09/2026
Opened in 1999, the Toronto Music Garden is a fascinating waterfront space inspired by the music of Bach, in collaboration with renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma. Each dance movement within Bach’s First Suite for Unaccompanied Cello corresponds to a different section in the garden.
Aerial view looking north over Marina Quay West, west of Spadina, ca. late 1990s. A garden and adjacent buildings next to the marina are under construction. Series 1465, File 145, Item 37.Aerial view looking north of Marina Quay West, west of Spadina. The marina is filled with boats, and a landscaped park runs adjacent to the water. Several tall condo buildings and the SkyDome are in the background. Series 2311, File 3084, Item 366. Tri-fold brochure detailing the Toronto Music Garden project with images, descriptions, and park design plans. Text "About the Music Garden" reads: Fronting on Toronto's inner harbour, the 20+ acre Toronto Music Garden is scheduled to open in the spring of 1999. The City of Toronto park is the latest addition to the proposed 40-acre Harbourfront Parks System. The creation of the Music Garden is the results of a unique collaboration between Julie Moir Messervy and landscape architects from the City's Parks and Recreation Division. The park design is inspired by Bach's First Suite for Unaccompanied Cello, with each dance movement within the suite corresponding to a different section in the garden.

Fonds 1047, Series 1822, File 395.
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Blen @blenblanchard.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
The top comment on the video “We asked AI executives simple questions they couldn’t answer” is spot on.
youtu.be
We asked AI execs uncomfortable questions at Canada’s biggest AI summit
YouTube video by The Breach
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Jess Davis @jessmarindavis.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
This is getting super interesting. While I'm not certain yet what exactly is going on, at the moment, it seems like Canada was used to establish the bona fides of an AI "journalist" who subsequently went on to engage in foreign interference in Morocco..... www.turkiyetoday.com/world/exclus...
turkiyetoday.com
Exclusive—Fake AI columnist dupes Canadian press to target Moroccan dissidents, and a Turkish 'middleman' - Türkiye Today
The phantom writer communicated exclusively via email and rarely phoned Canadian publications, who were oblivious until Türkiye Today unraveled the matter
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Tyler King @tyleraking.com · 29/09/2026
A key component of the Cambridge Analytica outrage was your friends subjecting you to data theft without your consent or knowledge. Facebook is running the same playbook on your text messages. Even if you’re not on Meta properties, they’re ingesting your interactions.
Aten installed Muse on both his iPhone and a Mac mini that he uses to test out various Al agents and tech. It took Meta a single day to begin "helpfully" pitching article ideas based on texts he'd sent to a podcast co-host.
When he asked Muse how it got the information, it said that it read banners from incoming texts. But that's not true, either.
After doing a little digging, Aten says Muse synced 187,000 lines from his Messages database, despite Full Disk Access being Off.Unless Aten is the most popular person on the face of the planet, I sincerely doubt he'd gotten 187,000 lines of text in roughly 24 hours. What happened is that, without permission, Muse went into the app and downloaded the information.
He had not given Muse permission to access Messages, and full disk access was not enabled. It just went ahead and uploaded those texts anyway.
Muse can take "unexpected actions" indeed.
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Ed Zitron @edzitron.com · 29/09/2026
Reuters got some of the IPO docs. Anthropic is a total dog of a company. Spent $12.6bn to make $4.6bn in revenue in 2025, $7.33bn of which was compute costs. Operating loss of $8bn. Losses getting worse year over year. Amazing stuff www.reuters.com/business/fin...
Summary
Companies
• Anthropic IPO could value the company at more than $2
trillion
• Anthropic lost $42 billion in 2025
• Al lab spent $7.33 billion on compute and infrastructure last year
• Operating loss widened to $8.06 billion in 2025 from $2.98 billion in 2024
• Execs, industry analysts have expressed concerns over harms of Al tech
Sept 28 (Reuters) - Anthropic is making a massive bet that Al will transform the global economy more profoundly than industrialization, electricity and the internet, according to its IPO prospectus seen by Reuters.
But the cost to get there will be staggering. Anthropic reported a net loss of $42 billion in 2025, and plans to spend $518 billion on cloud, computing and infrastructure obligations in coming year, according to the
prospectus.
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Emily Gorcenski @emily.gorcen.ski · 28/09/2026
Here’s the most incredible story you’ll read today. A small plane with four people aboard crashes in a field. Another pilot witnesses it. That pilot happens to be flying a bunch of skydivers. They offer to jump to assist, are given permission. The skydivers happen to be EMTs. Everyone survives.
wisn.com
Skydivers alert emergency crews, assist after plane crashes near East Troy airport
Four people were aboard the single-engine plane when it went down in a cornfield near Carvers School Road in East Troy at about 1:30 p.m.
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Shawn Micallef @shawnmicallef.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
The interest of Shopify + Build Canada in the Toronto election is something to watch v closely.
theijf.org
Shopify-linked think tank is the biggest spender on Toronto political ads. What is its goal?
Build Canada’s municipal offshoot has spent estimated $62K on Facebook, Instagram ads since June
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The Grind @thegrindto.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
For three decades, Canada has voted against the United States’ embargo on Cuba at the annual UN General Assembly vote held in October. The U.S. is now applying economic pressure to prevent that from happening again this year.
thegrindmag.ca
U.S. Pressuring Canada to Vote Against Cuba at UN
For three decades, Canada has voted against the United States’ embargo on Cuba at the annual United Nations General Assembly vote held in October. The U.S. is now applying economic pressure to prevent...
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ℳatt @matttomic.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
I hope whatever civil engineering firm lands this RFP is haunted at night by visions of the cyclists they'll be killing. I hope their iron ring they were given at graduation when they took an oath to the public starts to itch and weigh on their finger like an anchor.
What is certain, however, is that a vast sum of our money will be wasted, countless Torontonians will find themselves profoundly inconvenienced for extended periods, and, eventually, a cyclist will get struck by a car. But at least the congestion will be worse.
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TTCriders @ttcriders.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
As you fill out the Toronto Star Vote Compass, please remember that there are many ways to pay for transit that isn’t reliant on fare increases. Presenting this as a binary between better service and higher fares is disrespectful to transit advocates who work tirelessly to push for alternatives.
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Robert Daniels @812filmreviews.com · 28/09/2026
“A devastating and heartbreaking kaiju movie, Godzilla Minus Zero is a towering epic of destructive proportions.” My review of GODZILLA MINUS ZERO via Screen Daily
screendaily.com
‘Godzilla Minus Zero’ review: Towering monster sequel amps up the action and raises the emotional stakes
Takashi Yamazaki's epic follow-up to 'Godzilla Minus One' premiered at the New York Film Festival
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Blen @blenblanchard.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
“Public payments to for-profit facilities have increased faster than public hospital funding Post-Bill 60, public payments to: for-profit surgical facilities increased at an avg annual growth rate of 22.8% medical imaging facilities at 10.7% Public hospital funding only grew at 4.9%”
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Jeff Berardelli @weatherprof.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
It’s astonishing how far ahead the 2026 El Niño is. The red line is 2026. The other warmest El Niños are the colored lines. It’s not even playing in the same league. Some of this is of course due to this natural El Niño cycle on top of long-term ocean warming… 1/
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In Otter News @in-otter-news.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
After a long day at the aquarium, the otters help tidy their toys away. Payment is made promptly and entirely in ice cubes.
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Blen @blenblanchard.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Can 128 tickets over the span of 10 days be seen as a blitz, when compared to the, on average, 700 daily speeding tickets that cameras would issue?
Quote from a September 8th 2020 CBC article mentioning “on average there were 700 speeding incidents each day caught on camera”.
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Kevin J. Kircher @kevinjkircher.com · 16/09/2026
lady: our data center flexes demand to protect the grid and ratepayers!

guy: how

lady: we use AI to shift load!

guy: how

lady: we run diesel generators when prices spike

guy: thank you
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Quillipede @quillipede.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Punishing disagreement isn't very democratic. Carney's team, with all its access to information and data, still wasn't able to convince its own caucus members on the merits of their argument, so they fell back on threats instead. And even those didn't work against everyone! #Canada #CdnPoli
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JW Mason @jwmason.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
This is the master key to deciphering contemporary debates about free speech. www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2026/se...
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Luke LeBrun @lukelebrun.ca · 26/09/2026
Tech companies suddenly decide they can, in fact, moderate content on their platforms after all
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Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project @occrp.org · 25/09/2026
Internal Watchdog says Data Leaks and Bribery Push French Police Misconduct Cases to Five-Year High www.occrp.org/en/news/fran...
occrp.org
Internal Watchdog says Data Leaks and Bribery Push French Police Misconduct Cases to Five-Year High
An internal report recorded 341 integrity breaches within France’s National Police last year, driven by a sharp rise in unauthorized database queries and bribery, even as the oversight body lacks the...
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Rebecca Solnit @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Climate change affects everything. "These threats are not regarded as some far-off or remote contingency: disastrous impacts, for instance on the UK’s food supply, could be expected as soon as 2030, it warns."
What is the report?
In the first report of its kind, the UK’s spy chiefs set out stark warnings of the catastrophic risks to the UK from the collapse of vital ecosystems around the world, driven by the climate crisis and our failures to protect nature. The Guardian has seen part of the report and has spoken to a large number of people familiar with its contents, which warn of food shortages, conflicts, mass migration and other threats to the UK’s national security, including going as far as the risk of nuclear war or the breakdown of society. These threats are not regarded as some far-off or remote contingency: disastrous impacts, for instance on the UK’s food supply, could be expected as soon as 2030, it warns.
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Nick Tsergas @nicktsergas.ca · 25/09/2026
Last week Sask. Premier Scott Moe announced the contentious 300MW AI datacentre going up outside of Regina is actually going to be 1,200MW. In #HamOnt, newly-obtained documents show Slate Asset Management has been planning for 800MW of datacentre capacity "at full scale."
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Paris Marx @parismarx.com · 25/09/2026
An individual in Canada used ChatGPT for eight months to plan one of the country’s worst mass shootings. Yet, if you listen to politicians and media, the real threat of AI is a fantastical scenario where it might wipe out humans in ten years. They need to stop getting fooled by tech deceivers.
disconnect.blog
The media has the AI threat all wrong
Generative AI is harming people today. We don’t need to waste time fantasizing about science fictional scenarios.
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Luke LeBrun @lukelebrun.ca · 25/09/2026
Although Policy Options published an article from an author with an apparently AI-generated headshot and whose articles sound like they were also generated by AI, I appreciate their transparency here and also sharing additional details about the deceptive behaviour of this "Daniel Robson" character
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Max Fawcett @maxfawcett.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Hey now
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Gabe Oatley @gabeoatley.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
A six-month rent strike has ended in victory for a group of Toronto tenants. The landlord has agreed to drop a sought-after 5.4 percent rent increase. The change came about a week after after tenants went to Montreal, aiming to pressure their landlord in person. www.torontotoday.ca/local/real-e...
torontotoday.ca
‘Significant victory’: 6-month Parkdale rent strike ends in victory for tenants
In 2025, the landlord of 75 Spencer Ave. proposed an above guideline rent increase of 5.4 per cent
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My IRL friends call me Chris @christyceeck.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
"Carney is all Canada-first, except when choosing which media outlets he’ll talk to." #GiftLink 🎁 #CdnPoli www.thestar.com/gift-redeem?...
No one will accuse Carney, at least not yet, of waging war with the media as Donald Trump is doing in the U.S. this week to breathtaking levels with his ban on outlets whose coverage he dislikes.

Carney is just displaying his preference for reaching an audience beyond the Canadian one, which could be seen as a bit of a contradiction, at least when he is also leading an effort to diversify trade beyond with the U.S., and to keep Canadian institutions strong in the face of U.S. dominance.

His transparency with the New York Times was welcome. An equal measure of transparency at home would be similarly welcomed.
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Whitney Curry Wimbish @whitneycwimbish.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
The youngest person his pager attack killed was 9-year-old Fatima Abdullah, who had just started 4th grade. The pager was on a table when it went off and she picked it up to take to her dad. It exploded in her face and reports said it covered the room in her blood. She wanted to learn English.
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Charlie Angus @charlieangus104.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Minister Anita Anand needs to do some explaining. Why is an international war criminal allowed to fly over our country especially when our judge on the ICC is being threatened? www.middleeasteye.net/news/canada-...
middleeasteye.net
Canada, France, Italy and Greece allow Netanyahu’s overflight despite ICC warrant
Israeli PM’s route via four ICC member states prompts fresh scrutiny over their alleged breach of international law
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David Moscrop @davidmoscrop.com · 24/09/2026
Just as far as freedom, democracy, and fair elections are concerned, Republican cops illegally seizing ballot boxes is bad, right? www.nytimes.com/2026/09/24/u...
nytimes.com
Republican Sheriff Illegally Seized California Ballots, Court Rules
The California Supreme Court ordered Sheriff Chad Bianco of Riverside County to return ballots to election officials after he confiscated them for an investigation.
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More Perfect Union @moreperfectunion.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
BREAKING: The state of New York is suing Polymarket, claiming the company operates an illegal gambling platform in violation of state gambling laws.
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Ketan Joshi @ketanjoshi.co · 24/09/2026
Funny coincidence: this estimate of China's cleantech avoided emissions is about the same as the potential *added* emissions if all planned data centre gas plants go ahead ketanjoshi.co/2026/09/16/n...
Almost a third of the avoided emissions identified ​by the analysis came from solar exports to South Asia, where Pakistan is in the ‌midst of ⁠a boom that has given it one of the highest shares of solar power generation in the world.

"Current growth of solar and EVs, particularly in emerging countries, was not on anyone's radar five years ago before China's cleantech manufacturing ​boom," said Myllyvirta.
"Just as ​the manufacturing boom ⁠led to increased supply and falling prices, the world experienced two fossil fuel price shocks in the past five ​years, giving adoptia chart showing potential gas emissions
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Ketan Joshi @ketanjoshi.co · 24/09/2026
Most international media missing that the Australian government sat on this for 2 weeks to save it for UNGA
WIRED Daily
SUBSCRIBE FOR FULL ACCESS
Image may contain: Anthony Albanese, Sam Altman, Accessories, Formal Wear, Tie, Face, Head, Person, Photography, and Portrait
SECURITY

 
An OpenAI Agent Hacked Australia’s Health Service. Their Government Found Out Months Later.

 
By Isabella Ward

 
The country’s prime minister expressed disappointment at being informed of the hack only via email. Now Australia is investigating whether OpenAI broke the law.

READ MORE
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Justin McElroy 🇨🇦 @jmcelroy.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
That's four cabinet ministers not seeking re-election for the NDP: Bailey, Kahlon, Greene and Popham
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The Narwhal @thenarwhal.ca · 23/09/2026
When Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government proposed overhauling environmental assessments and major project approvals last spring, they were warned against centralizing power and infringing on Indigenous Rights. Critics say Bill C-39 does just that.
thenarwhal.ca
Canadians warned Carney not to sideline scientists. Bill C-39 does just that, critics say
When the Liberals proposed overhauling major project approvals, the public worried it would concentrate power and infringe on Indigenous Rights. Now, pipelines and nuclear development will be reviewed by an energy agency, instead of environmental
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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
ANOTHER death in ICE detention which appears likely to be the result of medical neglect. A diabetic who told his family members he wasn't receiving regular insulin shots OR getting diabetic-appropriate meals just died in custody. The U.S. prison-ICE detention-industrial complex kills.
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Max Fawcett @maxfawcett.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
It's your stupid president's constant threats to our sovereignty and attacks on our country that did this, not our decision to respond to them. www.latimes.com/business/sto...
latimes.com
Canada's boycott forces the sale of a California winery
As California's wine industry struggles, a family-owned vineyard spanning 3,500 acres is for sale after its exports to Canada dropped 35% in a year.
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Raider @iwillnotbesilenced.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Karen Bass’s LAPD is openly defying a judge’s order to hand over moonlighting records, and it's obvious why. They are desperately hiding a shadow workforce where cops moonlight for ICE contractors, creating blatant conflicts of interest. It's time to enforce the subpoena and demand accountability.
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Alex Cosh @alex.readthemaple.com · 23/09/2026
NEW: Prime Minister Mark Carney today downplayed U.S. President Donald Trump’s threat to completely destroy Iran as simply “the language of war.” www.readthemaple.com/carney-downp...
readthemaple.com
Carney Downplays Trump’s Threat To Destroy Iran As ‘Language Of War’
“Well, there is a war underway, and he’s speaking the language of war.”
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Shannon Waters @sobittersosweet.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Three cabinet ministers declining to run for the NDP again This is, um, not the best news for Eby First, Popham. Then, Greene. Now Kahlon #bcpoli
A Twitter post from Jas Johal:

BREAKING: Health Minister Ravi Kahlon will not be seeking re-election. The Delta North MLA was first elected in 2017, joined cabinet in 2020 and was one of Eby's most capable ministers and closest allies. A big loss for the NDP on day one of the campaign. #bcpoli #cdnpoli
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